A wholesale market in the central Chinese city of Wuhan played a role in the outbreak of the novel coronavirus last year, as the source or possibly as an “amplifying setting”, WHO says, calling for more research.

Chinese authorities shut down the market in January as part of efforts to halt the spread of the virus and ordered a temporary ban on trade and consumption of wildlife.

Dr Peter Ben Embarek, a WHO expert on food safety and zoonotic viruses, said the market clearly played a role in the event.

“But what role we don’t know, whether it was the source or amplifying setting or just a coincidence that some cases were detected in and around that market,” he said.